Tales From The Lost Highway... One.. Murderer's Moon.

 

The black storm clouds rolled in around 5:30 pm in the late afternoon almost as if on cue, combined with the scorching desert temperatures it made the air hot and sticky. What little residents there were along highway 51 knew when they heard the familiar wail of police sirens that it was best to stay locked away indoors, for something bad was going down. there were three police cruisers roaring down the 51, a little over a half of a mile ahead of them was a black late model sedan, they had been chasing it for the past twenty miles. Inside the lead cruiser, the radio roared to life.

"Sherrif Hastings! the sedan was carjacked in Hadlerville two days ago, witnesses say the two suspects in the vehicle beat the owner over the head with the butt of a gun, they died from their injuries. Suspects are two Caucasian males believed to be connected to a string of robberies along the 51, suspects are to be considered armed and extremely dangerous approach with caution."

Sherrif Lloyd Hastings pressed the pursuit, but the sedan pulled farther ahead and when he breached the next hill he could see it almost a mile ahead as it almost rolled onto its side as it slid into the turn onto highway one. Hastings felt his heart sink, his foot eased off the gas pedal, the lead pursuit cruiser slowly rolled to a stop, blocking off the turn onto highway one. He slowly opened the driver's side door and stepped out of the vehicle. The other two pursuit cruisers screeched to a stop behind him, the officers almost leaping out of their cars.

"Sherrif Hastings! what did you stop for? They're going to get away!"

Hastings walked to the shoulder of highway one and bent down to scoop up a handful of dirt. He eyed it curiously as the hot desert breeze slowly blew it from his outstretched hand and moved it across the sun parched asphalt, he slowly rose to his feet, his eyes never leaving the desert horizon, he looked back at the three officers standing behind him.

"Our pursuit ends here." He told them.

They stood in shocked silence with looks of disbelief on their faces, one of them approached him almost cautiously. his eyes moving almost panicked back and forth between the sherrif and highway one.

"So that's it? because the turned here, they get away?"

Hastings removed his sunglasses and stared him straight in the eye.

"They didn't get away, son. those boys will be dead by morning, and we're never going to see that car again."

Dead End

When Martin Keller looked back from the passenger seat through the rear window, and he didn't see flashing lights or police cars, he breathed a sigh of relief. But his elation was short-lived as the car began to convulse around him, Jake Dixon cast him a startled look from the driver's seat, steam began to roll in from under the dashboard there was a loud bang and the vehicle lurched to a sudden stop, he aimed it for the shoulder as it slow rolled to a complete stop both men got out and studied the surrounding terrain, to the sides, desert, sand, rock and cactus. To the front and rear, scorching hot asphalt. The sun was sinking on the horizon, it would be dark sooner rather than later. They took everything they could carry from the car and began to walk the shoulder toward the sunset. 

 

The sun sunk lower and the darkness began to move in around them, Jake Dixon had been in the desert many times before, but there was somehow something different about this desert, the air moved different, it sounded different, it felt dark and foreboding, they had two flashlights, and ten extra batteries but even still they could barely see where they were going. they walked for what seemed like hours along the dark, deserted road, until Martin Keller put his hand on Jake Dixon's shoulder and nudged him.

"Jake? Is that a light up ahead?"

They hurried their pace and headed toward the source of the light, slowly a sign came into view: "Fester's Last Chance Filling Station." they moved up around the side of the run-down building.  A single dim light was on in what Jake Dixon assumed was the office, off to one side was an old beat up pickup truck, the tires were still holding air so they guessed that it was operational. Martin Keller opened the door quietly and checked the cab for keys, but found none. He looked at Jake Dixon and shook his head no, Dixon stepped up to the door of the dimly lit office. There was one older man inside who was sitting back in his chair with both feet propped up on the counter reading a book.  

"We ain't got no gas." His frosty light blue eyes raised to look at Jake Dixon. "But then again, we both know you ain't here for gas are ya Mr. Dixon?"

Jake Dixon took two steps backward while pulling the gun into full view.

"Do I know you, old man?"

"No, but we know all about you Jake, The first diner that you robbed on the 51on the other side of Hadlerville, you got away with $350.00 and shot three people dead. robbed two more stores along the way before you carjacked the sedan and beat the driver to death, you've always had a black heart Jake, and when we heard you were in the area we knew that you would end up here somehow. Oh, and by the way, the keys are above the driver's side visor."

Jake Dixon raised the weapon and without hesitation fired point-blank into the old man's chest, causing him to slowly sink back down in his chair.

"Bet you didn't see that coming, did you, old man?"

Martin Keller turned the key and the truck's engine fired up right away, Jake Dixon got in the passenger side as the spit dirt and dust up in the air getting out of the parking lot, as he looked back he was shocked to see the old man standing in the doorway unharmed as they sped away. they had no idea what was waiting for them. The stretch of highway one was long and dark the night air was hot and humid, with both windows down it still offered them no relief from the heat, the truck wouldn't seem to go above 50 mph. In the rearview mirror, something caught martin Keller's attention, two headlights coming on fast. it wasn't a police car.

They were still trying to figure out what was going on when the strange car slammed into the rear of the truck. Martin jerked on the wheel, trying desperately to maintain control of the truck. The car backed off but then sped up again and slammed into the driver's side of the bed of the truck, when it backed off and then hit them for the third time it forced the truck off of the road and sent them flying over the top of a sand dune, finally crashing into a large boulder. stunned both men staggered from the vehicle, Martin Keller hid behind the boulder while Jake Dixon headed out into the desert still dazed by the crash.

Martin could hear the sounds of the car coming back and stopping nearby. He heard the door open and then close, he heard the heavy footfalls walking through the sand up the side of the dune.  and cautiously peeked around the side of the boulder just as the tall dark imposing figure standing at the top of the dune. It made its way down toward the boulder, as Martin Keller watched and waited he slowly pulled his own gun free and held his breath as he trained it on the dark figure, when it moved into his line of sight he fired on it to no effect. The dark figure cocked its head to one side as Keller fired again.

He felt its cold hands wrap around his throat cutting off his air, lifting him off his feet, death cold fingers digging into his flesh collapsing around his Adam's apple ripping it out in one motion. Martin Keller stared blankly, his lips slowly turning a dark shade of crimson, his mouth made gurgling sounds as his body twitched in death throes. When he finally became still, the figure dropped his body and began tracking Jake Dixon's footsteps. he quickly closed distance, it could hear Dixon's frantic footsteps trying to run across the sand. He wheeled the gun around and fired directly at it.

"What the fuck are you, man??" He yelled, almost panic-stricken.

The moon had pulled free of the clouds as the dark figure stood over him then, now he could clearly see the black suit, the long white hair and the soft glowing blood-red eyes.

"My name is Xander Kraven Mr. Dixon, I am a denizen of a place you know as Hell, I am also a soul hunter, and I've come to take you home."

There was no one to see him suffer the very fate that a life dedicated to the pain and suffering of other people had made for him, no one saw him get the flesh ripped from his body, no one heard his screams, but a dark, silent empty desert.

Epilog.

It was 6:00 am when Sherrif Lloyd Hastings was driving by the turn onto Highway one, when something caught his eye just off of the shoulder of the road about twenty-five yards from the turn. he spun the cruiser around and turned onto the highway, there on the shoulder sat the still form of the black sedan that they had been chasing two days earlier. He trained the Maglite on the drag marks that led across  a trail leading out into the desert, curious, he followed it. Fifty yards in he found two bodies bound at the wrists hanging from a pair of large mesquite trees. On one of the bodies was a note written in blood that read:

"Born onto this earth, to lives of misery and pain, I free thee from these earthly bodies, and take thee home." 

~FIN~

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